Sprint's Galaxy S III update removes local search abilities

Yesterday we heard that the Sprint Galaxy S III was in the midst of getting a small "security" update over-the-air, but with little detail of what exactly was changed. The jury is still out about any security fixes, but one thing that was changed is that you can no longer use the Google search bar to search for local content on the device. This comes on the heels of yet another legal battle between Apple and Samsung, where the unified search ability was enough to get the Galaxy Nexus on a do-not-sell list for about a week.

Luckily, it's pretty easy to fix by using the Google search bar app from a previous version. If you've received the update and miss your universal search, hit the link below for the AC forums thread for details on getting it back.

Samsung, Sprint, we get it. You were forced to make these changes. But calling it a security update and not filling in your users about the full scope of what was being changed on their phones is dirty pool. We expect, and deserve, a little better.

Sprint's Galaxy S III update removes local search abilities

You will be able to get local search back in a day or 2. About the same amount of time it took the Dev's at XDA to do the same for the OneX and Evo 4G LTE's after HTC had to remove it beacuse of crapple.

I'd say the same thing to HTC and Verizon with the last software update for the Thunderbolt back in April which took away some hyperlink functionality (due to Apple's war with HTC). Verizon's Thunderbolt update page listed a bunch of fixes, but never said anything about removing functionality. It wasn't until later that we figured it out. It's what caused me to flash back to the previous software version and then root my phone to block OTA's! I loathe Apple for this crap! Grrr....

How broken can the patent office be to give a vague unified search patent to Apple? Isn't this what Android (produced by the biggest search provider) does? I remember showing off how nice the search function worked on my Droid 1 compared to someone's iPhone.

Agreed, isn't this just an extension of Google Desktop to the mobile space?

briankurtz79... Just to your information, when people are thieves, it`s easy to steal from them. If Google a thieves so Apple! Just on example the slide to unlock the screen, Apple stolen this feature and more you and I we both don`t know yet.
So Google did what the other doing anyway.

Considering the impending court case against apple for stealing siri from a chinese company that developed and implemented it in China in 2004 and considering all of the previous successful cases against apple for copyright and patent breachs that's a pretty rich statement 'google you thieves'. Considering the Promis software case and the Yankee 'pirating' with an illegally obtained copy of megaupload files and the 'stolen' music in the anti-copyright piracy adds this entire intellectual property field is bogus. And i understand the NZ govt has been found guilty of illegally copying Microsoft operating systems for its computers... basically it's the bully in the playground environment and has nothing to do with artists having their creativity protected. It's all just bullshit!

The first time I used it was after I heard it was banned...wanted to see what all the hub-bub was about. I could see it as useful, and will use it some now, but won't lose sleep if it's not there in future phones.